My (non) rant about the lack of accessories in new iPod Minis

macrumors 6502

I personally am glad that they no longer include the AC Adaptor or firewire cable. For the AC Adapter, I never used it, I don't even know where it is right now. I always leave my computer on, so the iPod is always charging, and I mostly use my iPod in my car, so I purchased a car iPod charger. For me, to buy an iPod, I was basically forced into paying for an AC Adapter that I would never use. I had to pay even more to charge my iPod where I use it the most (my car). So, I am looking at these new Minis (I bought the blue 4gb one, even though I already have a 40gb regular one) and see that they dropped the thing I won't use anyway. If you need a firewire cable and charger, you can add those and pay the same as what they cost on tuesday, but you still are getting a superior iPod, (referring to the battery life) But for people like me, I get a superior product, at a significant price reduction. I say Kudos to apple for dropping price and features. And I say Boo to all the naysayers who are so pissed off at the lack of firewire that they say they are "useless" I am like "Dude, just buy the $18 cable and get over it"

macrumors 68000

I am fine with the lack of AC adaptor, even though I use mine all the time. At least both PC and Mac users both have to pay extra if they want this feature.

The lack of a choice between Firewire and USB cables really does bother me. You could have a Mac less than 2 years old without USB 2.0, so now Mac users are taxed $20 to use the iPod (assuming it is their first one).

And this is the part that really bothers me:

Say I am a windows user who is told to switch to the Mac mini and that I can use my existing keyboard and mouse (and Apple is so fond of telling us this). Well, when I plug my keyboard and mouse into the mini, I now have no place to plug in my iPod that I decieded to buy at the same time. Now I have to go back to the store for a hub or firewire cable. So much for it just working out of the box.

Don't get me wrong, I like the price drop, but there should be a choice of cords so the Mac user is not taxed or inconvienced.

thread startermacrumors 6502

It's not so much as a "tax" to buy a cable, but it would almost be better if they didn't include ANY cables, and dropped the price $18 more, and you would then buy whatever cable you needed. But with the price drop, I can't get mad at apple for making you buy a cable. It's still cheaper for a superior product. I don't understand why EVERYTHING needs to be included in the box. Less stuff = less cost.

macrumors 68000

It's not so much as a "tax" to buy a cable, but it would almost be better if they didn't include ANY cables, and dropped the price $18 more, and you would then buy whatever cable you needed. But with the price drop, I can't get mad at apple for making you buy a cable. It's still cheaper for a superior product. I don't understand why EVERYTHING needs to be included in the box. Less stuff = less cost.

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I don't disagree. I don't think everything needs to be in box either. And for me, it doesn't matter because I have all the cords I need, so the price drop is the best thing.

But you have to admit, if you were switching from XP to a mini and you bought an iPod at the same time and nobody told you to buy a hub, firewire cable, or an Apple Keyboard, you'd be pissed...and it wouldn't be about the $18.

macrumors 6502a

So your saying that its cool that Apple is charging its own customers who have a relatively new mac that doesn't have USB 2.0 more than it charges windows users for the same product. Taxing your own users for the lack of adopting USB 2.0 in your machines sooner is apprehensible. Not to mention that USB 2.0 is
slower than Firewire in sustainable data transfers. Go to the iPod discussions on Apple's site under windows connectivity and enjoy all the problems people have posted when trying to sync large amounts of data with crappy USB 2.0 because it can't handle steady data transfer in large amounts especially when you have many processes running on your machine.

Sure its less, and i'm glad you don't have to pay for those unnecessary components for your usage. But for many mac users, a Firewire cable IS necessary to charge and sync properly if they don't have a brand new mac.

BTW, if you add back the Firewire cable and the AC charger that used to come with the 4GB model it is actually MORE than it used to be. Nice smokescreen Apple, hope you keep padding your bottom line while kissing up to windows users and inferior standards.

macrumors G4

My sister got her eMac 11 months ago. She was planning on buying her boyfriend an iPod Mini for his birthday in May. Now she's going to end up with a fairly useless USB 2 cable (her eMac only has USB 1 which is going to take an age to update) and have to buy a FW cable - or try to get one off an existing PC iPod user who doesn't have FW.

I can understand the logic of only putting in a USB 2 cable particularly since most resellers probably sell more iPods to PC users. But it would have been nice to have the Apple Store online to offer the option of purchasing a FW box.

macrumors 68020

well, although it is 419, it doesn't cost them nearly as much to make it. i mean, more and more PCs are starting to have firewire, and most macs in use today don't have USB 2. that's all i'm saying, it would cost them maybe $5 per cable, and with the money they're making off the ipod and whatnot, i think they can spare that. maybe griffin should lower the price of their Dock400 cable...http://griffintechnology.com/products/dock400/

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